Fresh air found in Nepal hydropower tunnels as rescue teams search for trapped workers

Rescue teams in Nepal are continuing operations at flooded hydropower tunnels after last month's disaster buried entrances and trapped workers inside. An Australian tunnelling expert involved in the effort said authorities have now found fresh air in parts of the tunnels for the first time. The search is centred on the Chilime Hydropower tunnel in the hard-hit Rasuwa district, where teams are trying to reach people believed to be alive.

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Arnold Dix said the discovery of fresh air marked a significant development in the operation, which has been under way since the August 26 floods. He said teams think they have found a zone where people may have survived and described the area as hollow, with rescuers calling out into the tunnel. According to the supplied material, a suspected 900 people have been trapped in hydropower tunnels since the entrances were buried by mud and debris.

At least 11 hydropower projects were engulfed after a glacier collapsed into a river on the Nepal-China border. The rescue effort has involved a joint team using a generator and a mud pump to remove sludge from the tunnel. The same source says a Chinese national was previously rescued by soldiers during an ongoing operation at the Trishuli-3A hydropower project.

It also says Nepal's prime minister has vowed there will be no let-up in the rescue operations. The tunnels have been described as pitch black for more than two weeks, with trapped people said to have had only access to water. The development matters because it suggests there may still be survivors in a disaster zone where the scale of the damage is large and the conditions are severe.

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Hydropower projects are a major part of Nepal's infrastructure, and the collapse of multiple sites has created both a rescue emergency and a wider disruption to energy and transport links in affected areas. The fact that fresh air has been detected gives rescuers a more concrete sign that parts of the tunnels may still be open enough for survival. The incident is linked to the August 26 glacier collapse on the Nepal-China border, which sent floodwaters and debris through the area and buried tunnel entrances.

The supplied material says at least 11 hydropower projects were engulfed in the floods, and that the search has drawn in specialist help. Dix, who was invited to Nepal to work with rescue teams, has also been involved at Trishuli-3A, showing that the response has stretched across more than one project. What remains unclear is how many people are still alive inside the tunnels and how far rescue teams can progress through the mud and debris.

The number of trapped people is still described as suspected rather than confirmed, and the full extent of the toll from the wider disaster is not established in the supplied rows. The next stage will depend on whether teams can keep clearing the tunnels and reach any survivors before conditions worsen further.

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